Amelia and the Secret of Stoney Manor (Amelia Series Book 1)

by Michelle Bradshaw

  Amelia and the

  Secret of Stoney Manor

  By Michelle Bradshaw

  Copyright © 2018 Michelle Bradshaw

  Edited by Melanie Williams

  Cover by Broken Arrow Designs

  Cover Model http://kahinaspirit.deviantart.com/

  Formatted by EK Formatting

  For the dreamers.

  No dream is too big.

  "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."

  Walt Disney

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  CHAPTER ONE

  AMELIA

  MY GRANDMOTHER MATILDA

  I sat alone on the staircase, writing in my diary, “I’m so tired of being alone. When will this nightmare end?” As the sun began to set, I knew I would once again be free of the monsters from the mirror and could dance under the light of the moon, which, if you knew me, was my favorite thing to do. I loved the moon because the moon didn’t judge me. It just shined down immersing me in its glow as if it was holding me, protecting me from those same monsters I feared so.

  Three, two, one … dong, dong, dong rang the old, rusty grandfather clock that sat at the end of the hallway which lead to the staircase on which I sat. “Finally,” I whispered as I slowly raised myself up and brushed off the dust that had collected on my black, lacey skirt. I was never what you would call popular. I was always considered weird even as a child—my skirt was proof of that. Maybe that was why my mother abandoned me at Stoney Manor, home of my grandmother Matilda. Everyone claimed she was a witch, though I have never seen her do anything to make me believe such a fairy tale. Having no proof, I dismissed the thought from my head, never to think of it again.

  Until one night, I couldn’t sleep and heard the creaking of the stairs. Tip-toeing out of my room, I found my grandmother staring at an old, cracked mirror. The mirror had to be at least a century old. What is so intriguing about it? I pondered. As I watched the mirror begin to shake and glow, it suddenly came to a stop. Grandmother Matilda put one finger to the glass causing the glass to ripple, as if it was a pool of water. An image of a group of school children teasing a little dark haired girl in the middle of the circle began to appear. I couldn’t tell who the little girl was, but in a weird way I noticed she favored me. As the image began to blur, a hooded figure with eyes that glowed like embers appeared.

  “Bring me Amelia!”

  “No,” spoke Grandmother Matilda in a bold voice.

  Wait a minute. Did that thing say my name? Puzzled, I continued to quietly watch.

  “You can’t hide her forever,” sneered the monster.

  “She will only be here until she is ready,” countered Grandmother Matilda in a dignified manner without an ounce of fear showing.

  “She will never be ready. I know this, for I am the voice of the bullies. I prey on the weak and different. How easy it is to get in to the heads of the young and use them for my bidding. You will see. She will be like putty in my hand. I will break her like so many others, and your great warrior will be no more.” As the monster uttered the last words, a chill ran down my back as I began to come to the realization of all that had been spoken.

  Grandmother Matilda only uttered, “You are wrong. She is stronger than you know. Why do you think her mother left her here?” And with a swift flip of her hand, she waived the hooded monster away.

  For fear of being caught, I hurried back to my room, locked the door, and hid under the covers. Even as the words of the monster replayed over and over in my head like a broken record, sleep eventually found me.

  It was a tortured kind of sleep, one full of questions and hooded creatures followed by a dream that I had been having for as long as I can remember.

  “Amelia,” uttered a loud distant voice. “You can do it, Amelia. You can save us all.”

  “Mom! Mom? Mom, is that you? Where are you, Mom? I am so scared!” I shouted almost in tears.

  The voice began to grow faint. “Save us, Amelia. Save us.” Then silence.

  I awoke, bursting from my bed, sweat pouring from my brow, knocking my grandmother’s cat, Luna, onto the floor. “I wish these dreams would stop,” I said to Luna as she jumped back on the bed. “What do they mean? Why do I keep having the same one?” I sat back down on the bed beside Luna, and she meowed and sat on my lap, knowing I needed to be comforted. As I pet Luna, she began to purr. As if listening to a lullaby, Luna’s purr was so calming that I was overcome with a deep sense of peace. Lying down, I slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

  The next morning I awoke to the sound of chirping birds outside my window as the sun cascaded in through my lavender and grey curtains onto my bed. Luna meowed and nuzzled my face like she was saying, “Get up, Amelia. Time to start the day."

  “All right Luna. I’m getting up," I announced as I ran my hand across her fluffy, grey fur. I slowly arose, wondering if the happenings of the night before had all been a dream. I quickly made my bed and went to my closet to choose what to wear for the day. I wasn’t one for following fashion and quickly grabbed a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a pale grey t-shirt. Knowing Grandmother Matilda would not approve, I returned them to my closet and grabbed a light blue jumper, long sleeve black under shirt, and my Mary Janes.

  Grandmother was an old fashioned type of lady. She had an air of class and elegance about her. Grandmother would have taken one look at my jeans and sneakers and said, “Ladies do not wear jeans, Amelia.” Having lost many an argument over my jeans, I knew it was a battle I would never win.

  I hurried off to shower. Throwing my clothes on and running a brush through my long, black, wavy hair, I pushed my hair behind my ears and began to examine myself in the mirror. With my sixteenth birthday looming around the corner, this form of self-examination in the mirror had become a ritual. I will not call myself beautiful, but I will not say I am bad on the eyes either, my thoughts lingered. Black hair, blue eyes, nice smile. As I backed up from the mirror to get a look at my petite figure, I thought I saw a flash of something in the corner of the mirror. Luna meowed like she read my mind and agreed with me. “Just my imagination,” I mumbled to myself as I walked away from the mirror and turned off the bathroom light with Luna following behind.

  I slowly made my way down the staircase on which I had sat and wrote in my diary
for so many nights. Dong, dong, dong, rang the grandfather clock. On no! 7:00 am. Grandmother doesn’t like for me to be late to the table for breakfast, I recalled as I hurried to the dining room almost tripping over Luna, who always seemed to be my shadow. Meow, responded Luna in an irritated way. “Sorry, Luna.” I petted her quickly as I made my way to my chair.

  Grandmother was already seated. “You are late, Amelia. A lady is never late. Never early. Always on time.”

  “Yes, Grandmother,” I answered as I sat down.

  Oatmeal and a half a grapefruit again. Ugh, I sulked. Not that I hated the meal, I just wanted a change. Except for the clink of our spoons against the china bowls and the sound of my grandmother’s tea cup as she sat it down, all was silent as usual. When we had finished breakfast and I’d cleaned up the dishes, Grandmother asked me to join her in the sitting room. The sitting room was perfectly white: the couch, the carpet, everything. As always, Grandmother had the curtains opened on the big bay window. Grandmother would always say she loved to let the light in.

  As I sat down in the big, white, Victorian style armchair Grandmother mentioned, “I know your sixteenth birthday is on Saturday, Amelia. Would you like cake for it?”

  “Yes, Grandmother. That would be nice,” I replied.

  “Okay then. We shall have cake on Saturday. You will need a new dress for the occasion.”

  “No thank you, Grandmother. That’s all right.”

  “Do not be silly, Amelia. Every young lady loves a new dress. I declare you shall have a new dress, and you will. I will take care of it.” There was no arguing with her when she had her mind made up, so I gave in.

  “Yes, Grandmother.”

  “It is settled then. Now hurry off and do your studies, my dear Amelia. Luna will keep me company for a while.”

  “Yes, Grandmother,” I recited as Luna leaped into her lap, and I hurried off to do my school work.

  Being fairly intelligent I finished my studies rather quickly. Since I was homeschooled and had been for as long as I can remember, I sped through my school work and was the rank of a senior in high school at the age of sixteen. I couldn’t remember my stay in public school that well since I was only in it for kindergarten. Grandmother never would explain why I had to be homeschooled or, more importantly, why my mother abandoned me. When I was younger, I would ask her all the time, but I learned that was a lost battle. “You will know when the time is right, Amelia.” was her usual answer. What did that mean? Questions upon questions filled my head on a daily basis.

  As lunch time approached, I put my school books away and proceeded to go back to the sitting room. As I was about to turn the handle, I stopped to listen to Grandmother talking to Luna. “Saturday is the night, Luna. We will give it to her then.”

  Give me what? I pondered, not thinking much about the fact that my grandmother was talking to her cat since this was not the first time I had walked up on a conversation.

  Meow, Luna uttered as the door flew open.

  “Ladies do not spy at the door, Amelia. It is rude.” reprimanded my grandmother with a look of disapproval on her face.

  “Yes, Grandmother. It won’t happen again,” I promised as I followed her to the dining room and sat down. Lunch was quickly and quietly eaten. Before I could get up to clean the dishes, Grandmother quickly said, “Just a minute, Amelia. Luna has confided in me that you have been spending a lot of time in front of your bathroom mirror.”

  “Just in the mornings. Wait a minute … did you say Luna told you? What?” I asked confused, thinking she couldn’t know I do that. Luna can’t talk.

  “Never mind that,” Grandmother said quickly. “I will be removing your mirror today.”

  “But Grandmother, why? How? What?” I stammered.

  “It is coming down. We do not stare into mirrors,” proclaimed Grandmother as she rushed off upstairs to my bathroom.

  “We who?” I said. A haze of confusion hung over me like a dense fog until Luna meowed, bringing me back to reality, and I quickly began to clean up after lunch. I never questioned why there were no mirrors anywhere other than my bathroom before today. I just believed that was Grandmother’s sense of style.

  On the inside, the house had a Victorian air about it and looked as if my grandmother had plucked it out of a history book. She always made sure everything was in its place. The outside of Stoney Manor, however, had a sense of eeriness to it. The house was a two story, Victorian style home with a porch that wrapped around it. I’m sure in its younger days Stoney Manor was beautiful to look at, but looked as if many days had passed since then. The shutters flapped in the wind, the porch creaked, and the house could use a paint job. Although it was once painted white, over time it had turned to grey. The grounds of the Manor could use a kind hand as well. Weeds and ivy had taken over what I’m sure were once beautiful gardens. Tall trees shaded the front of the house, giving it an even more spooky appeal. A rusty, iron gate stayed locked to keep onlookers out. Every once in a while strangers to the town would peep in through the bars of the big, iron gate to try and catch a glimpse of the mysterious old lady who lived there. Otherwise, no one ever visited Stoney Manor. I can’t say all of the outside of the house was bad because my favorite place was the backyard. It was huge, wide, and open, and the perfect place to dance beneath the moon, which I loved to do so often. Every once and a while I catch a glimpse of Grandmother looking out of the big bay window in the sitting room and watching my moon dance. Although she didn’t approve of my going out at night, she never seemed to mind if the moon was out.

  BANG! went the big soup pot as it hit the floor, bringing me back to reality and away from my daydreams of dancing beneath my precious moon. MEOW! shrilled Luna as the sound had awaken her from a peaceful cat nap on the kitchen floor.

  “Sorry, Luna. I was off in dreamland again,” I confessed and quickly picked up the soup pot and rubbed Luna’s head apologetically. I finished washing the other lunch dishes speedily so that I might be able to see what Grandmother was going to do with my mirror. By the time I reached my upstairs bathroom, the mirror was gone and a note had been left on the wall.

  Please do not be upset with me, Amelia. This is for your own good. You will understand why when the time is right. I will be back soon.

  I love you,

  Grandmother

  More unanswered questions filled my head, but I pushed them away in hopes that I really would get some answers sooner than later. There was no use standing there wondering why, so I decided to do my chores for the day.

  By the time I finished my chores and had chosen a book to read in the sitting room, Grandmother had returned with a few wrapped packages.

  Grandmother smiled. “I have something for you, Amelia.”

  “My birthday isn’t until Saturday, Grandmother,” I said surprised.

  “Would you please take this and satisfy this old lady?” she pleaded with a wink.

  “Thank you, Grandmother.” Taking the gift from her, I slowly took off the big, pink bow and removed the pretty blue wrapping paper, wondering what it might be. Inside the box was a white dress, and I pulled it out to look at it. All I could see was the bow that wrapped around the middle. Not really my style, but I didn’t want to hurt my grandmother’s feelings.

  “Thank you, Grandmother. It’s nice.”

  “Oh, I am so glad you like it. The clerk at the store assured me spaghetti straps were in. I am not sure what that means, but I assumed it had to be a good thing,” Grandmother remarked smiling.

  “Thank you, Grandmother.” I repeated again trying to muffle a laugh and got up to give her a quick hug.

  “It will be perfect for your birthday, don’t you think?” she asked.

  “Yes, Grandmother.”

  “Okay, that is it for now. You will get the others on your birthday. Now let an old lady get some rest, my dear Amelia.”

  “Yes, Grandmother,” I said getting up from the chair.

  Grandmother gently took my hand, “Amelia?�
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  “Yes, Grandmother?”

  “I know you must think I am pretty strict and you do not always understand my reasons for doing things, but I promise you will understand why soon. Okay, my dear?” she said looking deeply concerned. “You must know I do love you, my dear Amelia, even though I do not always show it, right?”

  “Yes, Grandmother,” I replied trying to hide my tears since she had never acted this way before. “Are you sure you are okay?” I asked her, fearing that maybe something was wrong.

  “I am fine, my dear Amelia. It is just … Luna confided in me earlier that you do not always feel wanted around here, and I want to apologize because that was never my intention, my sweet girl. I promise you again that you will know the answers to the questions you desire soon.” Ignoring the fact she got her information from Luna the cat again, I simply nodded, hugged Grandmother one more time, and walked out of the room as she laid her head back against the white couch, closed her eyes, and began to pet Luna who sat in her lap.

  Though concern for my grandmother still flooded my mind, I decided to take a walk outside. As I stepped outside onto the big, white porch, a cool breeze began to blow, rustling my hair and reminding me that fall was around the corner. I had never ventured out into the grounds, only the backyard. I guess I never really had a desire to do so, until today. I was about to change my mind and go back in when a flash of light caught my eye. I slowly descended the steps, turned left, and carefully walked across the broken stepping stones of the walkway. Crossing the big yard, I saw it again. It had to be the sun reflecting off something. But what? I wondered. The gardens were cloaked in secrecy since no one had been in them in a very long time. I wandered past what was once a magnificent fountain but was now cloaked in moss and debris. Walking further on through, I walked past the remains of hundreds upon hundreds of what used to be beautiful flowers until I reached a little bench that sat next to a pond. I glanced around, looking for what could have caught my eye. Having no luck, I sat down on the bench.